Goggles
by Stickey Note Ninja
Summary: This ficlet is just a little insight on how one of my favorite characters aquired his goggles.


The sky above Midgar was overcast, as usual, and the people below were bustling along, minding their own business, as usual as well. They were doing such a good job of minding their own business that most of them failed to notice a rather lanky man attempting to hold his own in a fight against five rather large guys down a smaller side street.

He was failing miserably, needless to say, but this whole time, he was managing to completely unnerve the other men. For while he was getting his proverbial shit beat out of him, he was still down talking the men the entire time. It wasn't until one of the larger of the group of men delivered a solid kick to the ribcage of the lanky man and heard the satisfying crunch of broken bones that the group decided the beating was over.

"All right." The lanky man slowly pushed himself into a sitting position against a building. "Ya win this time." He winced slightly from the pain but still managed to keep his lopsided grin on his face..

The group grumbled amongst themselves as they began to disperse, their victory ruined my the man's apparently unbreakable spirit.

"Same time next week?" The lanky man chuckled a little at his words but quickly decided against it as his chest throbbed. He settled for a smirk instead.

One out of the group of dispersing men didn't find their victim's comment to be so amusing and spat on him as the man left.

"Hey, man, that's just gross." The heavily injured man called after the group but got no response. After a few seconds though, the man's smirk slowly faded from his face as his defeat and condition began to sink in.

The man's flaming red hair was matted with dirt and his own blood. His clothes were filthy beyond recognition and there were deep but oddly identical gashes running along his cheekbones. His blue eyes, which were just bright from his overconfidence, were now dull and glazed over.

He heard something moving across the tiny street and moved slightly to try to see what it was but his vision was too blurry. After a moment, the maker of the noises approached him and kneeled down in front of him. He could vaguely see the outline of a small girl, the reason he decided to try to fight that group of men. For some reason or another those men had chosen this girl as their target and if the red headed man hadn't intervened, that little girl would've probably never been seen again.

"You didn't have to save me…" She whispered meekly. "I would've been alright…."

"Heh. If ya say so, darlin'. Those thugs shoulda picked on someone their own size anyways." His cocky smile quickly replaced the look of pain on his face.

She was silent for a moment. "I…..I'll go get help." She paused for a moment, removed something from around her neck, and placed it in one of the man's limp hands. "Hold onto this and please don't let go…" her voice was wavering as she stood and ran towards the main street.

The man heard the little girl talking to someone at the beginning of the street but couldn't tell what was being said. He was fading in and out of consciousness at this point. He heard someone walking towards him and turned his head slightly to see who it was. All he could make out were two tall men in dark suits.

"Ya might not wanna get too close. I might bleed all over ya…." The man trailed off as his consciousness slowly faded away.

---

The man awoke on a couch to a blinding fluorescent light above him. He sat up as fast as his complaining muscles would let him and looked at his surroundings. He was in a pristine office with no personal effects as far as he could tell. He rubbed his face a bit with one of his free hands and noticed that there were two bandages covering the gashed on his face. He grimaced slightly as he ripped them off.

He was still gripping what the little girl had gave him tightly in his other hand and now took the time to look at it. It was a pair of goggles.. "Odd…" He muttered to himself

"So I see you're finally awake, Reno." Reno jumped slightly and quickly spun to face the person that was talking. He saw who he assumed to be the two men he saw right before he blacked out. They were both wearing the same dark suit. The man who spoke had long, slicked back, black hair and a small dot between his eyes. The other man was taller, bald, and wore a pair of sunglasses.

"Ah. It's you two again." Reno scowled slightly and leaned back on the couch, his hands locked behind his head. These two men always showed up whenever he seemed to cause trouble of any sort but he had always managed to evade them. Not this time apparently. "So, ya finally caught me. What are ya gonna do with me now? Punish me fer causing so much trouble?" He smirked.

"Nothing of the sort., Reno." The man who spoke moved across the room and sat behind the desk. Reno glanced at the tall, bald man who just stood by the door with his arms crossed. "I am Tseng and this is Rude. We have tracked you down to offer you a job."

"A job?" Reno raised an eyebrow slightly at the man's odd offer. "Whadda want me for? All I'm good at's fightin'."

"We know. Due to your exceptional skills, we would like to offer you a job as one of the Turks, the president's own bodyguards." Tseng clasped his hands on the desk and stared at Reno, waiting for a response..

"So you think I'm good enough ta protect yer president?" Tseng only nodded. "Hm…I ain't gonna pass up a job so, I'm in." Tseng nodded slightly and looked down, busying himself with some paperwork on his desk.

"follow Rude. He will get you everything you need." Reno stood and without a second glance back at Tseng, walked towards where Rude stood at the door. "Oh. That little girl you saved wanted me to let you know the goggles are her way of thanking you." Tseng didn't even glace up as he said that.

Reno paused for a moment at the door and looked down at the goggles still clutched in his hand. After a short moment of contemplation, he fixed the goggles in what would be their customary spot on his head and smirked slightly. He then followed Rude out of the office.

"So, buddy. What's it like being a Turk?"


End file.
